SiCxNy:H films were deposited as anti-reflective (ARC)– passivation layers on crystalline silicon
photovoltaics. The thin films were deposited using a remote plasma sputtering system HiTUS (High Target
Utilisation Sputtering). The HiTUS allows the deposition of SiCxNy:H avoiding the use of pyrophoric silane
precursor. Minority carrier lifetime was monitored, the effective minority carrier lifetime increased up to 40.7 µs,
which corresponds to an implied Voc of 640mV. Film roughness and thickness of the films were measured using
coherence correlation interferometry (CCI) using a Taylor Hobson “Sunstar”. Deposited films were found to have
rms roughness values below 2nm and the film roughness was found to be proportional to passivation quality but
inversely proportional to deposition rates. Films were also characterised using Horiba UVISEL spectroscopic
ellipsometer, which provided refractive index dispersion. The deposited films exhibited refractive indexes in the
range of 2-2.5. Measured deposition rates were in range 1-25nm/min.

Description:

This paper was presented at the 26th EU PVSEC, 5-9 September 2011, Hamburg: http://www.photovoltaic-conference.com/